Traveling and living in the artificial atmosphere of a spacecraft, and guiding uncrewed satellites in their orbits around Earth and on missions to other stellar bodies call for specialized and creative technologies. While devised for specific, space-related purposes, many of these creations, or their spinoff products, find commercial markets here on Earth. As well, new industries are increasingly springing up to specifically exploit extraterrestrial materials and opportunities for commercial gain.

From Space to the Marketplace

Space programs have been a rich source of inventions that went on to great commercial success here on Earth. The household television satellite dish, which captures television signals beamed from orbiting satellites (their commercial function itself a spinoff benefit of orbital space travel), were originally invented to correct errors in the signals from spacecraft. Medical imaging of our internal organs and modern eye examination methods arose from the technologies developed to...